Trio to Cycle to Winter Olympics from Croatia

Three keen Croatian cyclists – Mladen Gaćeša, Marko Mitić and Tomislav Barbić – have departed the Croatian capital Zagreb on Saturday by bike as they begin their 2988km adventure to arrive in Russia in time for next month’s Winter Olympics…

Not even the prospect of cycling through terrorist hit Volgograd has put off the trio, who all belong to the PedalinacCycling Club. Mladen, Marko and Tomislav have broken up their trip to Sochi, where they plan to arrive by the opening ceremony on 7 February, into around 30 stages. The first stage will see them bike 146km from Zagreb to Nova Gradiška, before a 100km trip to Novi Sad. The Croatians will then make their way to Bucharest before moving onto the Ukrainian towns of Odessa, Sevastopol, Kerch and finally to – Sochi.

“Cycling is a way of life for us. We are not sportspeople and our cycling club is not a competition club but an association which gathers keen cyclists who like to travel on their bikes around Europe and the world,” said Gaćeša before heading off on Saturday.